• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

U of M Gets Federal Funds for Transportation Center -- Money to Also Pay for Pedestrian Bridge Across Central

Posted on: Tuesday, 9 August 2005, 09:01 CDT

The University of Memphis is set to receive $10 million from the federal government, most of it to fund a new transportation center on campus.

Over the next four years, the Center for Advanced Intermodal Transportation Technologies will receive $7 million. The remaining $3 million will pay for a new pedestrian bridge over Central Avenue. The bridge will link the Fogelman Executive Center on the south and the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management on the north.

"We began to think what we could do as a university to address the transportation issues of the Mid-South," said Kevin Roper, U of M executive assistant to the president for government relations. "We've been needing this for 20 years to address the issues here with the distribution aspect of the community."

Much work on the center remains to be done, including picking a home. It could be housed at the university's new branch in Millington, or on the main campus, possibly in engineering or the Fedex Institute, Roper said.

The center will have a faculty and staff of 8-10, and the hope is to have it operational within a year. Roper also is hopeful the $7 million will be seed money to attract new grants.

Although it won't directly lead to the creation of new majors, U of M officials hope the center might lead to new concentrations in existing degrees.

The center will focus on transportation issues, particularly as they relate to the Mid-South. These could include safer transportation methods, homeland security initiatives, or transportation of hazardous substances, said U of M vice provost Andy Meyers.

"What we hope now will happen is a variety of research efforts on campus will gain strength, first from the stability of the funding, and the attractiveness the funding offers colleagues," Meyers said. "It'll also make us a better partner for business and industry."

Roper said the new bridge is meant to cut down on pedestrian traffic from visitors staying at the Wilson hotel, then walking across central to the Fogelman center.

When the bridge opens, it is expected to be the third overpass spanning Central there. The city still plans to erect two overpasses to provide greater safety for students leaving the major parking lot there and crossing Central.

City engineer Wain Gaskins said that project could begin by spring 2006 and take 12-14 months to complete. U of M spokesman Curt Guenther said work on the new bridge could begin in early 2007 and be completed later that year.

If funds remain from that project, the U of M hopes to use them to study other traffic issues around campus, including a possible redesign of the confusing intersection of Patterson and Walker near the railroad tracks.

"Then there are the safety improvements along Central Avenue. One of the things that we've been talking with the city about is putting a traffic light at Deloach that is synchronized with the one at Patterson," U of M vice president for business and finance Charles Lee said.

"If we have any money left, we might look at a potential underpass at the railroad track (near Walker). We've been working on that, but it's very expensive."

- Jody Callahan: 529-6531

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

More News in this Category